It’s funny, whilst basketball shoes are able to bring in new technologies and remain wearable off the court, running shoes have moved the way of looking stupid when worn with anything but those shorts with the slits that show just a little too much thigh.

– t,

Whilst there’s definitely good excuses for why runners sport some weird details, there’s not much of an excuse as to why they’re made from cheap shiny plastics and metallic crap. It seems that the modern day sportsman has been convinced that the uglier a shoe is the better it will be on the pavement.

This being said, companies have made strides toward employing more aesthetically pleasing approaches to new-tech; Nike’s Lunar and Flywire hybrids tend to come to mind. But this in itself is still using old silhouettes to almost ease the market into accepting something that wasn’t designed 20 years ago. People reference the 90s often as the golden age of runners and their height of fashion in the hip-hop and rap scene, but at the time these shoes weren’t classics they were the hot new thing. I mean ACG has a pretty strong cult status within the sneaker scene which is built on a foundation of making insane stuff that was so obnoxious and often bordering on ugly that the shock factor alone was worthy of a purchase. The only shoes I can think of that buck this trend is the Superstar, Suede/Clyde family and Air Force 1, there’s probably more but I don’t care. Even then there were modern interpretations of each shoe.

Now I’m not saying go out there and buy the next Brooks or Asics trail runner from Rebel Sport, but I think it’s important to remain open to something new now and then. The New Balance 990-993 have had huge popularity with the public, but within the sneaker scene it’s been basically ignored even when there’s an awesome rainbow of USA and UK made versions out there to be had at stupidly low prices. The Crooked Tongues collaboration from a few years ago still remains a favourite of mine, if only because it was so un-loved by nearly everyone, apart from 99 other people that liked it more than me and grabbed them before I could convince myself that buying a shoe that came out of the current decade wasn’t crazy. I bet they were Asians, we seem to have forgotten to copy their love of anything crazy and new. Instead we tend to dress like the Japanese that are trying to dress like us, creating this sort of inbred fashion of ill fitting workwear… But I digress.

The shoe that inspired this post is the recently released New Balance 2002, something that grabbed my attention immediately. It’s NB’s most expensive shoe to date (something similar to when the 1500 released in the early 90s) and it’s a deliberate attempt at making an ultra high-tech shoe that pays homage to its roots. It features a huge range of NB’s current technology but employs a colour palette that doesn’t make you want to vomit. Please don’t moan about the shape either, there’s a reason why modern running shoes are shaped like a banana… it’s all down to that black art of scientific research and development finding that most people find a curved last more comfortable. My guess is that in previous decades big sportswear companies were like “Nah man, better performance and comfort be damned, our flagship running shoes need to look pointier”. It’s a huge conspiracy where the big-wigs want to make the human race look foolish by having comfortable yet slightly off looking shoes. They then feed off this by selling you deodorant in weirdly shaped cans with words like “Dynamic”, “Sport” and “Energize” written on them… Again I have gone off-track…

There are a few shoes that seem to have made it to a position of acceptance over the last few years; the Nike Moire is something that springs to mind. It combined all the good elements of shape paired with comfort and aggression in a way that really worked on those initial few colourways. Of course after that the shoe got whored out, but those first few ‘oreo’ soled numbers are tricky to get a hold of and can go for some decent prices in the resale market. I’m sure there will be more nice shoes that get ignored, pushed to the side because of the next hot retro of a shoe that nobody really cared about when it released. They’ll all be bought by kids who are ironically younger than the shoe they own after they saw Franalations’ review and we’ll all moan about how nobody makes anything decent anymore. In the end we’re all creatures of habit, and the sneaker connoisseur gets his kicks off telling everyone how shit everything new is and yet refuse to try anything new.

So as it stands I’m trying to convince myself that these New Balance 2002s are something I should grab and then use them to look down the nose at people who are stuck in the past, only the $250us price tag puts me off*.

Now if you’ll excuse me I need to find some Crooked Tongues 576s that I don’t really like that much to blow a few weeks wages on so I can have the complete set. Those new ones just don’t have the same shape as they did a few years ago, such a shame…

*I’ve included links to the 2002 so someone at NB can see I’m promoting it and give me a pair for free.

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Well said mate! Putting into words what I’ve been thinking for a while now. I like those NB 2002s too + made in the states= rad! I grabbed a pair of Nike Free Run+ to satisfy my longing for something new & I’ve got plenty of props for them. How do you feel about the grey NB 967 from the ‘Night Rainbow’ pack? http://nbfitpark.jp/nightrainbow/#Gallery- I’m hoping they make it over here.

Well said mate! Putting into words what I’ve been thinking for a while now. I like those NB 2002s too + made in the states= rad! I grabbed a pair of Nike Free Run+ to satisfy my longing for something new & I’ve got plenty of props for them. How do you feel about the grey NB 967 from the ‘Night Rainbow’ pack? http://nbfitpark.jp/nightrainbow/#Gallery- I’m hoping they make it over here.